Violin-playing attachment for pianos, pipe-organs, or similar instruments



D. R. ADAMSON. VIOLIN PLAYING ATTACHMENT FOR PIANOS, PIPE ORGANS, 0RSIMILAR INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. II, I9I6. RENEWED APR. 18,1921.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

UNITED STATES FATENT ()FFICE.

DAVID R. ADAMSON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

VIOLIN-PLAYING ATTACHMENT FOR PIANOS, PIPE-ORGANS, OR SIMILAR INSTRU-MENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nev. 15, 1921.

Application filed March 11, 1916, Serial No. 83,561. Renewed April18,1921. Serial No. 462,343;

To all to item it may concern Be it known that I, DAVID R. Air-insert, asubject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the borough ofBrooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Violin-Playing Attachments for Pianos,Pipe-Organs, or Similar Instruments, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to a violin playing attachment for pianos,pipe-organs or other similar instruments, whereby a stringed instrumentmay be played from the keyboard of the piano or organ or suchinstrument.

Particularly my invention is directed to the playing of a stringedinstrument by the use of a reciprocating bow and performing thisfunction automatically from the piano or organ keyboard.

Devices for playing stringed instruments from the keyboard of a piano ororgan have been devised heretofore, but have been complicated andimpractical of commercial operation for various reasons.

I have applied my invention by making use of two separate bows soarranged as to move in opposite directions to each other, and haveprovided means whereby only one of the bows would be in contact with astring at a time, the bow which is in contact with a string at' anygiven time being the bow which is then moving in the region of itsmaximum speed.

I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention in the accompanyingdrawing forming part of this specification, and reference is hadthereto, in which- Figure 1 shows an elevation. of the mechanicalfeatures of the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a plan view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a detail on a large scale of the fretting or stoppingdevice;

Fig. 4 shows a diagram of the electrical circuits involved;

Fig. 5 shows a chart giving the proper relation between the drivingmeans and the commutator for operating the electrical circuits; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section on the line 6-6, Fig. 3, looking inthe direction of the arrow.

Fig. 7 shows a piano keyboard embodying certain features of myinvention.

In Fig. 1 are shown standards 1, 2 and 3 Mounted in the standard 1 is ashaft a having cranks 5 and 6, mounted thereon at 90 from each other.Attached to the crank 5 is a rod 7 which is pivotally attac red to amember 52 which is pivoted at and to this member is pivotally secured aconnecting rod 53, and to the connecting rod 53 is pivotally attached areciprocating member 8 which acts as the supporting member for the bow9. Similarly connected to the crank 6 is a rod 10 pivotally connectedwith the member 56, which is also pivoted at 55, and to the member 56 ispivotally attached the connecting rod 5a which in turn is pivotallyattached to the reciprocating member 11, as best shown in Fig. 2. Themember 11 acts as a support for the how 12 in the same manner that themember 8 acts for the bow 9. The members 8 and 11 are suitably mountedin the guides 2 and 8 so that they will easily reciprocate therein.

Suitably mounted and supported beneath the bows 9 and 12 is a stringedinstrument 13 having a string 1% thereon. The particular construction ofthe stringed instrument forms no part of my invention and it is shownmerely in outline. This instrument has the usual tail-piece 14 bridge 15and key 16 for tuning it. If an instrument hav ing a single string isused, I prefer to make the neck longer than the usual violin so as toincrease the range of pitch.

A suitable motor device is shown at 17 for driving the shaft 4t. Thismotor device may be an electric motor, or any other suitable device, orthe shaft 41 may be handoperated if so desired.

On the side of the standard 3 away from the shaft 4 are guides 18 and 19through which the members 8 and 10, respectively, are freely movable.These guides are adapted to be drawn down by the electro-magnets 20 and21, respectively. When the guide 18 is drawn down against the action ofthe spring 22, the member 8 is drawn down so as to bring the bow 9 incontact with a string. Likewise, when the guide 19 is drawn down inopposition to a corresponding spring (not shown), the member 11 is drawndown to bring the bow 12 into contact with a string. As hereinafterexplained, these guides 18 and 19 are never drawn down simultaneously. 1

In Fig. 3 is shown an enlarged view of the apparatus for stopping orfretting the string. This has standards 24 and 25. To the upper end ofthe standard 25 is pivoted a member 26 at the point 27. Through themember 26 is fastened an adjustable screw 28 having a lock-nut 29thereon. to the standard 24 at the point 30 is a member 31 having aprojection 32 on one side of the point 30 adapted to contact with theend of the screw 28. The other end of the member 31 has provided thereona suitable projection 33 of the shape shown in the detail view in Fig.6. On the member 26 is a corresponding projection 34. These projectionsare for the purpose of getting a point contact or grip on the string 14so that the same may be fretted truly and accurately.

Provided on the standard 24 is a coilspring 35 having one end rigidlyfastened to the standard 24 and the other bearing against the end 32 ofthe member 31. This spring normally keeps the projections 33 and 34 outof contact with the string. 7

Arranged on the end of the member 26 is an armature 36 arranged to beattracted by the electro-magnet 37 at a suitable time, as will behereinafter explained. Then the magnet 37 is energized the armature 36will be drawn down, which, in turn, will move the member 26 around thepivotal point 27 and at the same time, the screw 28 will strike the end32 of the member 31 and move it around its pivotal point 30, therebyraising the end having the projection 33 thereon and causing theprojections 33 and 34 to rigidly clamp or fret the string 14 withoutmoving thestring away from the bow or varying the tension on the string.

Arranged on the shaft 4 is a commutator shown diagrammatically in Figs.4 and 5. This commutator-consists of a piece of insulation havingmounted thereon four me tallic members or segments 38, 39, 40 and 41.These metallic members are arranged to cover each approximately aquarter of the circumference of the commutator and are of equal lengthand equally separated, as shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. These segmentsarear ranged so that they can be adjusted longitudinally so as to vary thedistance between their ends. They are all'elcctrically con nectedtogether as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Brushes 42 and 43 are arrangedto cooperate with the commutator and the brush 42 is adapted to engagethe contacts 38'and 39 and the brush 43to engage the contacts 40and 41,as shown in Fig. 4. Thesebrushes come in contact with the segmentsalternately and at a predetermined time dependlng upon the relationbetween the position of the respective contacts and the crank arms 5 and6 mounted on the shaft 4. The arrangement is such, as is shown in Fig.5, that only one of the brushes is in engagement with one of thesegments 38, 39, 40 or 41 of the commutator at a time so that the bowAttached 7 which is controlled by that segment is at that time moving intheregion of its maximum speed. The relation of these members will bebest understood by referring to Figs. 4 and 5 in reading the operationof the device which is as follows:

The motor 17 is started rotating at the proper speed and thus rotatesthe shaft 4, the commutator and the crank arms and 6, therebyreciprocating the bows 9 and 12. The circuit of the battery 44,including the magnets 20, 21, is open at the switch 45 and the circuitof magnet 37 at the contacts on keys 46. The switch 45 is controlledfrom the piano or organ keyboard, each key 46 being adapted to controlthe closure of the switch 45 and arranged to close the contacts on thekeys 46, making a circuit through the magnet 37, which controls thefretting of the string 14. Placed upon the element 49 and underneatheach of the keys 46 is a projection 57, so that when a key 46 is presseddownwardly, as shown in Fig. 4,

'thcswitch 45 will be closed, as will readily be understood from thedrawing. It is un derstood that there is a separate magnet 37 for eachkey on the keyboard and that each one of the magnets controls a separatedevice, as shown in Fig. 3, for fretting the string to give differenttones depending upon the key of the keyboard WhlChliS operated at thattime. There may, or may not, be a plurality of switches 45 as there areonly two magnets 20 and 21 which control the operative engagement of thebows on the string. When it is desired to bring the stringed instrumentinto operation, the switch 47, which will be accessible from thekeyboard, is closed, and when the keys .46

are operated a circuit will be closed :from

the battery 44 through the switch 45, and through one or the other ofthe magnets 20 or 21 depending upon which of the brushes 42 or 43 is atthat instant in engagement with a segment of the commutator. We willassume that the switch 47 has been closed and that the brush 42 is incontact with the segment 38 as shown in Fig. 4. In that instance thecircuit would continue through the manget 21, brush 42, segment 38,segment 40, segment 41, line 48 to the other side of the battery; At thetime the keys 46 are operated, the contacts 011 the operated keys 46would be closed and the switch 45, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4,will be operated upon the operation of the key 46 as the switch 45 ismechanically connected to the keys 46 by the member 49. In theconstruction as shown in Fig. 7, the same effect will be produced by theclosing of the contacts 61, one of which is on each of the keys 46. Thecontacts 61 are all connected together as shown in the drawing. Theclosure of the switch 45 or the contacts 61 will close a circuitthrougha magnet 37 including only a part of the battery as follows: contacts onkeys 46, line 50, magnet 37, line 51, wire 48, switch 47 to the otherside of the battery. When the magnet 21 is energized the member 11 willbe pulled down through the guide 19, and by reference to Fig. it will beseen that the crank 6, at that time, is in such position as to move thebow 12 at its maximum speed. If the key remains down until the segment38 passes from under the brush 42, the brush 43 will then engage withthe segment 40, and the magnet will be energized and thereby pull downthe member 8 and bring the bow 9 into contact with the string. At thesame time the magnet 21 will have been demagnetized, and the spring willhave drawn the how 12 away from the string, this change of bows havingbeen made without interrupting the flow of the tone of the string. Byreference to Fig. 5 it will be seen that when the brush is on thecontact 40, the crank 5 is in position to move the bow 9 at its maximumspeed. When the commutator passes so that the brush 42 engages thecontact 39,

the same situation as when this brush engaged the contact 38 willobtain, except that the member 6 will move the bow 12 in the oppositedirection. When the commutator passes so that the segment 41 engages thebrush 43 the bow 9 will be again brought into contact with a string, butat this time the crank 5 is moving the bow in the opposite direction. Ifat any time during this period the operator presses another key or keys,the only thing which will happen will be that the corresponding magnet37 will be energized to vary the pitch of the string. It will be noted,also that during any part of the revolutions of the commutator whenevera key is pressed on the keyboard the bow, which is at that time movingin the region of its maximum speed, will be brought automatically intoengagement with the string and will remain so until the other howreaches an equal or greater speed at which time the bows will be shiftedwithout interrupting the flow of the tone from the string. This is trueregardless of when the operator begins, as well as regardless of whichkey is at first pressed. If, at any time, during this interval, theoperator does not hold down a key, the circuits will be automaticallyinterrupted by the switch 45 and contacts on the keys 46 so that nosound will be emitted from the instrument although the bows continuemoving.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 7 is such that as each of the keys 46 ispressed downward, the two sets of contacts are closed, that is to say,contacts 45 and 61. It will be noted that all of the upper contacts 61are connected together by conductor 60, and also all the upper contacts45 are connected together by conductor 59. Each of the lower contacts 61leads to a coil 37 for operating the fretting arrangement shown in Fig.3. whereas all the lower contacts 45 are connected together, and all ofthese contacts are connected to the coils 21 and 22 by means of aconductor 58 By this arrange ment, each time a key is operated a circuitis closed to the coils 21 and 22, and also a circuit is closed to thefretting coil 37 of the particular key operated.

It will be noted from the above that I have disclosed a simple form ofapparatus which embodies the advantage of having a reciprocating bow incontact with a string to produce the sound and .also arranged so as tohave a bow going at substantially constant speed at all times when incontact with the string and that this condition exists automatically andin the proper sequence and gives the most desirable result obtainable bymechanical means. I have operated the device above described and havefound that it is entirely satisfactory and practical.

While I have described my invention and have referred in the claims tothe fact that the bows engage the same string, I wish it to beunderstood that by the same string is meant the same musical string asdistinguished from the same physical string, as obviously, if twoseparate mechanical strings were exactly alike 'as far as their musicalquality goes, they would be in effect the same musical strings, and theclaims are to be read with the above meaning.

lVhile I have shown one embodiment of my invention, I wish it to beunderstood that I am in no wise limited to the exact embodiment shown,but intend to limit my invention only by the claims attached hereto.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the character described, thecombination of a stringed instrument, two bows for operative engagementwith the same string thereof, means for moving said bows in oppositedirections, and means for causing both of said bows to engage saidstring but only one of said bows to engage with said string at a time.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stringedinstrument, two bows for operative engagement with the same strinthereof. means for moving said bows in opposite directions, means forcausing said bows to successively engage said string and means forfretting the string.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stringedinstrument, two bows for operative engagement with the same stringthereof, means for reciprocating said bows at different speeds and meansfor bringing said bows into contact with said string successively,whereby both of said bows may engage the same string at differ cut timesto produce a relatively long continuous tone. 7

4:. In a device of the character described, the combination of astringed instrument two bows for operative engagement with the samestring thereof, and means for giving to said bows a reciprocatingmovement and means for bringing them successively into sole engagementwith said string.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination of a stringedinstrument two bows for operative engagement with the same stringthereof-,rotating means for giving to said bows a reciprocatingmovement, means for moving said bows into suc- CGSSlVQGIlgfigGIHGIIi)with said string, and means for fretting a string while in contact witha, bow.

6. In a device; of the character described, the combination of astringed instrument, two bows for operative engagement with the samestring thereof, and rotating means 90 apart for giving a reciprocatingmovement to said bows so that each bow reaches its maximum speed in eachdirection when the other bow is in its region of minimum speed andautomatic means for bringing the one of the bows into engagement withsaid string. which is at that time moving in the re ion of its maximumspeed.

7 In a device of the character described, the combination of astationary stringed instrument, two bows for operative engagement withthe same string thereof, rotating means 90 apart for giving areciprocating movement to said bows so that each bow reaches its maximumspeed in'each direction when the other bow is in its'region of minimumspeed, means for alternately raising and lowering said bows, means forbringing said bows into contact with said string alternately, and meansfor fretting the string in contact with a bow.

8. In a device of the character described,

the combination of a stationary stringed instrument, two bows foroperative engage ment with the same string thereof, rotating means 90apart for giving a reciprocating movement to said bows so that each bowreaches its maximum speed in each direction when the other bow is in itsregion of minimum speed, means for pulling said bows successively intoengagement with said string and means for varying the pitch of a stringwithout changing the tension thereof while a bow is in contacttherewith.

9. In a device of the character described, the combination of astationary stringed in strument, two bows for operative engagement withthe same string thereof, a crank shaft having means thereon ninetydegrees (90) apart for giving a reciprocating movement to said bows, sothat each bow reaches its maximum speed in each direction when the otherbow is in its region of minimum speed, magnets for pulling said bowssuccessively into engagement with said string, magnetically operatedmeans for fretting said string and means operatedby said crank shaft forautomatically maintaining the bow which is moving at a maximum speed inengagement with said string.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

DAVID R. ADAMSON.

